During World War II Soviet Union was tough on letting foreign, especially Western journalists entering Russian and especially Moscow. They all were meant to be spies and so on.

And then only after the death of Stalin in 1953 first photographers were allowed to come to Moscow and make first shots of the Soviet State. This is from the first of the first, coming from France and letting the world see the people of Moscow for the first time for ten or so years.

What’s “freedom”? Please define it. I live in Canada and have lived in West Germany and Communist Poland and am acquainted with hundreds of people from the former USSR so I have an idea of what “freedom” can mean.

I think freedom of press [not fearing after-effects directly or indirectly if you publish some investigative journalism - Russian networking -'blat'- is very importamt and prevents indirectly and directly freedom of press: you never know if you need the 'bad' person or his network later on, so lets keep quiet...].

Also, to be represented in government [in Russia it is almost impossible to participate in elections, you will be locked up, obstructed, threatened and killed, even, if you try something like participating in elections. No matter how many people are supporting you. Think Chodorkowski and Kasparov i.e.; they MIGHT become too popular, so let’s shut them down ASAP; that’s what the Kremlin or those who want to please the Kremlin [needing 'blat' later on] think…

The absolute cancerous corruption [again 'blat'] is also obstructing ‘freedom’ enormously – big business is preventing small and middle sized business from starting up – it is competition and in Russia they like monopoly…

Another example; one cannot travel without major difficulties [like obliged to give detailed info about your activities of the last 10 years when requesting a visa - this will be checked by FSB ] etc etc…

Leading police officers, governors and judges i.e. are put in their position because of ‘blat’, not because they are good in their job, and they do the same for their friends, etc etc… if you have no powerfull friends in Russia you cannot do business there and are without any power at all.

Complaining citizens are not represented in the government at all and cannot [by voting i.e.] express their dissatisfaction with what is happening in society…

The list is long. Very very long.

The best [but still flawed] system is the social-democracy like in Scandinavia or Netherlands, where prosperity is equally divided and people can say what they want and are represented in government in a multi-party system. Good wages and good prospects for all that are willing to work. Disabled and old people are valued and taken care of [in Russia they have to beg on the street]. It is very sad in Russia.

I think freedom of press [not fearing after-effects directly or indirectly if you publish some investigative journalism - Russian networking -'blat'- is very importamt and prevents indirectly and directlyfreedom of press: you never know if you need the 'bad' person or his network later on, so lets keep quiet...].

Also, to be represented in government [in Russia it is almost impossible to participate in elections, you will be locked up, obstructed, threatened and killed, even, if you try something like participating in elections. No matter how many people are supporting you. Think Chodorkowski and Kasparov i.e.; they MIGHT become too popular, so let’s shut them down ASAP; that’s what the Kremlin or those who want to please the Kremlin [needing 'blat' later on] think…

The absolute cancerous corruption [again 'blat'] is also obstructing ‘freedom’ enormously – big business is preventing small and middle sized business from starting up – it is competition and inRussia they like monopoly…

Another example; one cannot travel without major difficulties [like obliged to give detailed info about your activities of the last 10 years when requesting a visa - this will be checked by FSB ] etc etc…

Leading police officers, governors and judges i.e. are put in their position because of ‘blat’, not because they are good in their job, and they do the same for their friends, etc etc… if you have no powerfull friends in Russia you cannot do business there and are without any power at all.

Complaining citizens are not represented in the government at all and cannot [by voting i.e.] express their dissatisfaction with what is happening in society…

It isn’t fair in capitalism either. For example: George Bush. Do you think he became president because of his qualities or because he had connections? And even if there are politicians who want to make changes for the benefit of the people, the capitalists (CEOs of banks, oil companys, etc.) will bribe them into doing what is best for them so they can further exploid their emloyees.

Democratie doesn’t really exist in capitalism either. A question: are all citizens involved in their nation’s politics? Apart from the elections, we (the people) don’t have much to say. OK, you can go on the street yelling and cursing the politicians, but will they listen or even care? I’m afraid my answer is no. They don’t care whether you hate them or not, because you can’t do anything to kick them out of the politics. They won’t change anything about society, because this is exactly what they want: fat paychecks and citizens who don’t have any influence on them.

The best [but still flawed] system is the social-democracy like in Scandinavia or Netherlands, where prosperity is equally divided and people can say what they want and are represented in government in a multi-party system. Good wages and good prospects for all that are willing to work. Disabled and old people are valued and taken care of [in Russia they have to beg on the street]. It is very sad in Russia.

The best [but still flawed] system is the social-democracy like in Scandinavia or Netherlands, where prosperity is equally divided and people can say what they want and are represented in government in a multi-party system. Good wages and good prospects for all that are willing to work. Disabled and old people are valued and taken care of [in Russia they have to beg on the street].
It is very sad in Russia. Will never change I trhink. Or another revolution – Russians love revolutions and ‘strong’ leaders [to be submitted again, yes].

The best [but still flawed; one cannot defeat human nature] system is IMO the social-democracy like in Scandinavia or Netherlands, where prosperity is equally divided and people can say what they want and are represented in government in a multi-party system. Good wages and good prospects for all that are willing to work. Disabled and old people are valued and taken care of [in Russia they have to beg on the street]. One can be what he is and be respected.
It is very sad in Russia. Will never change I trhink. Or another revolution – Russians love revolutions and ‘strong’ leaders [to be submitted again, yes].

The best [but still flawed] system is the social-democracy like in Scandinavia or Netherlands, where prosperity is equally divided and people can say what they want and are represented in government in a multi-party system. Good wages and good prospects for all that are willing to work. Disabled and old people are valued and taken care of [in Russia they have to beg on the street].

If I’m not wrong, these pictures were made by a team of journalists from Paris Match who were allowed to travel trough the whole country and who wrote a series of articles about everyday life in teh USSR. Some of these articles were collected in a book which I was able to buy some time ago – extremely interesting stuff.

What struck me when I visited USSR in 1985 as a student – one month language course in Volgograd, hot July weather – was that the women all wore dresses. Sure, we used to wear dresses in the West too, but by 1985 it looked very old-fashioned. I was advised as a woman to wear a dress or skirt if I wanted to blend in. One day, wearing my only dress, feeling absurd, on the local streetcar, everyone was staring at me. Everyone could tell I was a foreigner – dress, shoes, manners, hair, way of walking and sitting. After that I decided to simply “be myself”, i.e. an American woman visiting wearing her own clothes – pants. To heck with trying to fit in! So when I see these photos from the 1930’s, well, it seems to me that they were wearing the same dresses in 1985, often homemade by mothers, grannies and aunts: not enough ready-made clothes, much as had been in USA once.

Good-looking women? Well, remember that Paris Match would seek out the best of the lot, not the downtrodden masses-look.